A bibliometric analysis of early childhood education research (1991–2023)

As the preschool period is a very important critical period in human life it has brought many academic studies related to this period. Scientific studies on early childhood education, which is the foundation of life, are quite numerous. The more scientific studies have been published on this period, the better the theory development for the future will progress. One of the things to be done for this is to make qualified publications. In order to make qualified publications, a qualified infrastructure is required. One of the scientific research methods that will provide this infrastructure is bibliometric studies. Although there are bibliometric studies on early childhood, the lack of a comprehensive thesis on the subject constitutes the importance and starting point of this thesis. In this context, 4796 publications obtained using the WoS database were subjected to analysis using the Bibliometrix program. In this context, five (5) sub-problems under the research question were sought to answer. Analysis results regarding basic bibliometric analysis, author, publication, institution, journal, country and network analysis were included. In the results of the analysis, basic data on publications, annual scientific production, the most cited authors, publications, institutions, journals, countries and their relations with each other were explained by visual mapping method and other bibliometric methods. In addition, the latest trends in the literature were determined by analyzes such as Lodka's Law and Bradford's Law, which are specific to bibliometric studies. When the prominent results of these analyses are examined, the annual scientific growth rate was found to be 24.81%. When the findings regarding the annual average citation rate are analyzed, 2004 (x=5.98) stands out as the year when the annual average citation rate peaked. Among the countries, the U.S.A. is in the lead. While the author who published the most publications on the subject is Alsina A., the most cited author is Burchınal M. It was seen that the institution that conducted the most studies on the subject was Macquaria University. As a result, the study is aimed to contribute to the literature.